Lockdown has been teaching us a lot. Depending on one’s situation and his/her attitude of handling the same, everyone has their own unique story. So, here I am to share one of my stories.
A few days ago, a colleague of mine added me to a group of enthusiastic runners. I knew most of them, hence it was an instant connect. Motivation was an immediate reflex action from them. These people have been running/walking atleast 5 km every day since the lockdown began.
When I got started, I was sure that I will not be able to walk for 5 km, all the more because I had to walk inside my home. Nevertheless, I started with 2-3 km. My fellow colleagues kept me going with their words of appreciation or by pushing me to achieve more. I felt like a 3-4-year-old who is being appreciated for every new alphabet or number he/she learns.
Run on Mother’s day :
On 8th May (which was my 4th day in this group), we received a link to register for “MAA Run”, which was scheduled for 10th May’20 (Mother’s day). Most of us registered for it, some for 5 km (like me), others for 10 km. I told myself that I have to make this memorable by hitting my first 5 km brisk walk.
I had more than one reasons to motivate myself – I wanted to feel this sense of achievement, I wanted to make my runner’s group feel proud of me and most important of all – I wanted to do this for my 11 yr old son who is away from me since 14th March (at his Aunt’s place, safe and sound). He had gone for a short vacation, but I couldn’t get him back before lockdown started. So, I somehow wanted to gift this to him.
On 10th May, I prepared myself mentally the entire day. Finally in the evening, after walking for around 50 min, I achieved my milestone of completing 5 km of a continuous brisk walk. It brought me tears of joy and I was so proud of myself. I realised that this routine of brisk walk is like a therapy for me in these tough days.
I remembered a quote which I can so relate to right now:
WHAT DOESN’T BREAK YOU, MAKES YOU STRONGER.